2025-11-30 16:54:53A timer lit up onto the booth's small screen—ten seconds.
Catherine's eyes met mine, wide, like she was saying without words that we both knew what this meant. The shocker button on her seat turned on. Ten seconds for her to decide if she'd hurt me or not. If she pressed it, she'd still have all three mercies intact. If she didn't… then we'd both be down to only two mercies. And the game had barely even begun. We didn't move. We didn't speak, still I could feel my heart hammering in my chest as the seconds ticked by slowly... painfully. 10… 9… 8… Her fingers hovered over the button. Her lips parted like she wanted to say something, but didn't. 5… 4… 3… I tried to steady my shaking hands, tried to act calm, tried to think, tried not to look at her trembling fingers. 2… 1… 0. The button went dark. Nothing happened. We just sat there for a moment, catching our breaths, staring at each other. The first test was over. But I knew this wasn't going to get easier. The box lit up immediately, almost like it was daring me to pick the next card. I stared at it. Part of me didn't want to—didn't want to hurt Catherine, didn't want to force her into anything—but the other part knew what would happen if I didn't. Refusal to play meant being blown to bits. I took a deep breath and slid my hand in, letting my fingers curl around the card. My eyes flicked to Catherine, still trembling, hands clenched in her lap. She looked like she wanted to disappear into herself. I held the card a second longer than I needed to, debating if I could just… not read it. But I knew the moment I did, the timer would start, and my mercies would drop from two to one. Finally, I read it aloud, my voice barely above a whisper. "Blue… to ask Red… have you ever wanted someone else while being with your partner?" Catherine went still. Her head dropped slightly, eyes fixed on her hands. I froze too. Part of me expected a firm, clear "no." She was a mother, a wife, a woman whose husband was probably waiting for her back home. She had to say no. That's exactly why I read it—I was almost certain she would. But then… she whispered it. Soft, trembling, almost swallowed by the air itself. "Yes." It hit me like a fist. I blinked. That single word, that quiet admission, stripped something away—maybe my illusions of how the game would let people stay "good," maybe just a little bit of my hope that some part of her, or anyone here, could remain untouched. I didn't know what to say. I just… let the card slip from my fingers and drop into the other box, the one labeled Drop Used Card Here. I exhaled slowly, understanding even more that the game wasn't just testing bodies. It was testing souls. Still, we kept playing. Card after card, each one dragging us further into the game's twisted logic. Six reads in total—four I went through, two I skipped, letting them sit there, unresolved. Every time we skipped, our mercies ticked down, leaving us exposed. By the time the sixth card dropped, we were both down to our last mercy. The next one… my seventh read… was sitting there in my hand. The moment I looked at the words, I knew I couldn't. So I dropped it into the box again. My last mercy gone. No more safety for me. From this point on, if I refused to read, she'd have to shock me or the system would kill us both. For a second I actually believed she wouldn't hit the button the way I hadn't read the card. I really thought she'd spare me, even though I knew she shouldn't. And maybe that was the stupid part—believing she'd hesitate just because I did. She looked at me, her wide eyes silently asking for understanding… maybe forgiveness. Then she whispered, "I'm sorry…" and pressed the button. The shock hit so hard I didn't even understand it as first. Heat, then white, then something that felt like my whole body was twisting against itself. My back arched off the seat as a scream tore out of me before I could even stop it . It didn't feel like electricity. It felt like my bones were being wrung out. Like someone reached inside and yanked every nerve tight at once. When it finally stopped, I was shaking so much my fingers wouldn't even close into a fist. I was drenched in sweat, trembling from the inside out, and right there, in that awful ringing silence, I understood exactly why the system allowed mercies in the first place—because no sane person would want to feel that twice. And I knew—God, I knew—I'd do almost anything to never feel it again.
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Different Directions
We moved like ghosts after that, every shadow a threat, every echo a footstep. The timer bled down: 38:44:12.We found Mason and Chloe's second key target in a high-ceilinged chamber full of silent, suspended engine blocks. The pair holding it—a man and woman—didn’t surrender. They’d gotten their first key the hard way, and it showed in their wild eyes. They fought.It was chaos. Mason traded blows with the man, their struggle sending tools clattering from a workbench. Blaire and the woman grappled, a desperate, silent tangle.I was trying to get to Blaire when I saw the other man break free from Mason. He didn’t go for Mason again. He saw me, isolated, and lunged, a wrench raised high.I froze. The baton in my hand hummed, useless. My mind saw the equations, the angles, the force—but my body wouldn’t move. Hurt him or die. The logic was perfect. My will was not.“ERWIN!” Jude’s shout was raw.He barreled into me, shoving me sideways. There was a sickening thwack.Jude grunted, stumbl
Cost of Living
We’d become efficient. Ruthless in a bloodless, quiet way.Our strange pack of eight moved through the rusted arteries of the Asylum with a grim rhythm. We’d collected our first Keys. Mason and Chloe had their second target, LOCK-14G. Me and Laura, Jude and Blaire—we’d all scanned our first Locks. We’d even helped Lena and Sam get theirs. No one else had to die. Not yet.Our size was our weapon. We’d corner a pair, our group spilling into a room or blocking a corridor. Mason would stand front and center, crossbow not quite aimed, but not quite not aimed either. His face said everything: Compliance or carnage. Your choice. It was always compliance. They’d press their trembling palms to ours, hear the chime of their own death sentence, and we’d move on, leaving them hollow-eyed and alive.The timer on the distant wall glowed, a constant reminder in the gloom: 41:15:53.We had time. But time was just another form of pressure.We were walking down a wide access tunnel when Chloe broke th
The First Key
We kept moving. The metallic groans of the Asylum and the distant, muffled sounds of conflict were our only soundtrack. Time was bleeding away. 47:02:11.Jude was shaking. Not a lot, just a fine tremor in the hand that wasn't clutching his stained knife. He kept looking at it, then ahead, his eyes unfocused."I...I just killed someone," he muttered, not to anyone in particular.Blaire squeezed his arm. "You didn't see her die.""She's not gonna make it out with that wound," Jude said, his voice hollow. "She'll bleed out. She'll still die. It's still my fault."Mason spun around so fast it made Chloe jump. He got right in Jude's face, his own composure cracking. "What did you think was gonna happen, huh?" He shoved Jude back against a cold metal pipe. The clang echoed. Everyone froze. "They were gonna ask nicely? That guy aimed a pipe wrench at your fucking face. So get it the fuck together."I saw the rage in Mason's eyes—not just at Jude, but at the situation, at the blood on his own
Blood in the Rust
The heavy door sealed shut behind us with a final, hydraulic hiss. The sterile light of the prep room was gone, swallowed by the oppressive gloom of the Ironclad Asylum.We stood in a high-ceilinged corridor of rusted metal and stained concrete. Pipes snaked along the walls, dripping with condensation. The air was cold and smelled of wet rust and something faintly chemical. A giant digital timer was projected in the air at the far end of the hall, its numbers glowing a sickly green:47:55:43Forty-eight hours to become killers, or be erased.“This way,” Mason whispered, his voice all business. He led, crossbow raised, sweeping the shadows. We followed in a tight, nervous cluster.The sounds began almost immediately. Not the ambient groans of metal, but active, human sounds. A sharp cry echoed from a level above, followed by a wet, crunching thud—like a baton hitting something soft. Then silence.Chloe whimpered, clapping a hand over her mouth. “I… I can’t do this,” she breathed, her v
Poetic Punishment: Words Made Weapon
The morning light was a liar. It spilled into the room, clean and warm, pretending the night before hadn’t happened. Pretending I hadn’t lain awake for hours feeling Laura’s heat beside me, thinking things I had no right to think. She was already up, dressed in the dark, practical clothes from the wardrobe. She stood by the fake window, her back to me. She didn’t turn when I sat up. The silence was a third person in the room. The three-toned chime broke it, harsh and final. The TV flicked on. SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT PREPARATION PHASE TERMINATED. ALL PARTICIPANTS REPORT TO MAIN LOBBY. TRIAL BY ORIGIN COMMENCES IN T-MINUS 30 MINUTES. No “please.” Just a command. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to. We walked to the elevator, stood in it, and watched the numbers descend in a silence so thick I could taste it. The lobby was different. The eerie social calm was gone, shredded. People stood in their obvious pairs, faces pale, eyes darting. The attendants were gone. The only
The Undoing
We spent the remaining hours of our rest period watching the attendants. It felt like a dead end. Every question, every accidental spill, every prodding comment just bounced off them. Their replies all tied back to the same loop: Your comfort. Your safety. Enjoy your rest.Before we knew it, it was evening. The last night before the next game.Back in the room, the silence felt heavier. I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to trace a path in my mind that didn’t end at a locked door or a timer counting down to zero.The bathroom door opened.I didn’t look over until she was halfway to the bed. Laura walked out wearing a shirt. My shirt. One of the plain grey ones the system had magicked into existence in the wardrobe.It was big on her, hanging off one shoulder, the hem stopping high on her thighs. My eyes went straight to the smooth skin there, then darted away, a hot flush crawling up my neck.“You’re wearing my shirt,” I said, my voice tighter than I meant it to be.She
